Appendixes A through F recited herein are found in a Computer Programming Listing Appendix on a compact disc. Appendixes A through F are incorporated herein by reference to the compact disc. These appendixes were created for the application on Aug. 14, 2003. Appendix A is 5 KB, Appendix B is 30 KB, Appendix C is 30 KB, Appendix D is 5 KB, Appendix E is 14 KB and Appendix F is 30 KB. The appendixes are ASCII format documents on IBM-PC machine. Microsoft Word XP was used to create the files.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The owner, Texas Instruments, Inc., has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records of any country, but reserves all rights whatsoever.
This invention relates to a talking book system and more particularly to a method of authoring a talking book with a speech and sound synthesizer.
A talking book is a system whereby speech and sound data is stored on a memory device (integrated circuit, for example) and arranged in such a way that each unit of the data may be played back through a synthesizer. It is highly desirable to make this book more like a regular book containing chapters, pages, etc., and as such, organizing the data so this is possible.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the system comprises a speech synthesizer, a memory, and audio circuitry for producing the audio from the synthesizer. The synthesizer and the memory are organized to selectively provide book sections such as chapters and pages. The synthesizer includes control switches for selecting book sections.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method is provided for authoring a talking book.